Upper Rock Creek Master Plan
Final Decisions by the County Council (February 24, 2004)
Land Use
The community lost in the Council's decision to open the sewer
envelope. The Freeman, Casey, Dungan and Woodlawn properties have been
rezoned from RE-1 and/or RE-2 on septic to Rural Neighborhood Cluster (RNC)
with sewer service. This impacts the volume and density of houses as
well as the semi- rural character of the area.
Low density on septic properties
All remaining septic properties can develop at 1 unit per acre for
those zoned RE 1 and 1 unit per 2 acres for those zoned RE 2, based on
the ability of the land to percolate. The Hendry farm could produce a
maximum of 110 homes and the Fraley farm 107. A more likely average
historical yield would be 55 and 54 homes respectively.
Lower density on sewered properties than developers requested
Density for the sewered properties is the lowest in the County for
residential wedge areas. Developers had lobbied for .5 or .6 units per
acre. The Council voted for .3 units per acre and .4 units per acre if
the MPDU legislation is passed. Obviously this is higher density than
would be achieved on septic, but much lower than what developers wanted.
Compare these figures. The Casey property percolated at 85 sites and
with sewer can build 110. (134 units with MPDU's). Dungan exploratory
perc by the developer was 36 sites (not taking into consideration that
50 percent would be land locked due to the ICC bisecting the property)
and with sewer 44 sites (53 units with MPDU's) can be built.
The Pulte proposal for the Freeman property of 335-715 units was
denied. Sewer was extended to that property and 109 units (132 units
with MPDU's) can be built.
Casey/Dungan property combination
Unfortunately, the new Master Plan requires that the Casey and Dungan
properties be developed together on sewer with all the housing for both
properties being built on Casey and the Dungan land remaining
undeveloped. This means that instead of the 85 houses under septic,
there will be 154 houses (187 houses with MPDU's) on the Casey property.
(The Dungan property estimate under septic is 36.) These will be built
largely between Magruder and Sequoyah schools on between 118 to 164
acres depending on the final amount of open space reserved.
Compatible Community Character
RNC zone development has only been used 4 times for communities in
Sandy Spring. The result is a tightly packed wall of $800-900,000 homes
on very small lots with open space around part of the periphery,
generally at the back of the property. Most of the open space is not
usable for the community. This is not in keeping with the rural views
that exist on Bowie Mill and Muncaster Mill Roads; nor is it compatible
with existing neighborhoods. The Council agreed to have Park and
Planning re-evaluate the RNC zone and make improvements to achieve a
more favorable outcome. The community will participate in the discussion
of the zone improvements. But we are unsure how or if our concerns will
be addressed in changes to the zone.
Open Space in Perpetuity
The sewered developments will be rezoned as Rural Neighborhood
Cluster (RNC). It will require 65% of the land on each property be set
aside as Open Space. The Council agreed to permanently protect this land
as passive open space and not allow any future trade of the land for
other community uses. Park and Planning will write a new Zoning Text
Amendment to this effect.
Special Protection Area
The URC north (or east) of Muncaster Mill Road was made a Special
Protection Area. This means that every developer (of a septic or sewered
property) must submit a water quality plan for storm water management
and sediment control measures both during and after construction, as
part of the development plan. The developer is required to expand and
accelerate forest conservation opportunities. Water quality testing must
be done prior to any building and water quality testing by the Dept. of
Environmental Protection will continue for the following 10 years. If
any degrading occurs, it is the developer’s responsibility to pay for
corrective measures.
Impervious Cap of 8% for sewered developments
Housing developments with public sewer must be built with no more
than 8% impervious surface. These surfaces include the house, driveway,
sheds, pools, gazebos, community roads, community buildings.
No impervious cap on 700 septic acres of the URC
The Council’s straw vote placed an 8% impervious cap on all the
undeveloped land north of Muncaster Mill Rd. This would have covered all
new development on septic or sewer. However, at the final vote session
the council voted on an amendment to exempt all new development on
septic from the 8% impervious cap requirement. Perhaps the largest
consequence of this loss is that institutional uses (new churches,
schools or County facilities) and new road or road improvement projects
will not be required to build in a manner that assures water quality
preservation. There will be no cap on septic developments and Park and
Planning have continually said that septic developments yield higher
imperviousness than clustered, sewered developments.
Catherine Fraley Property
The URCC recommended that this property in the area southeast of the
Shady Grove and Muncaster Mill intersection be reevaluated for
development to include affordable housing units as MPDU’s. During the
Master Plan process, Buzzuto Homes submitted a plan that did not include
affordable housing. The URCC lobbied to require the developers to
include MPDU’s on this site. The Council voted to change the zoning to
allow 12.5 units per acre, totaling 75 units. An impervious surface
exemption will only be realized if at least12.5% MPDU’s are included.
Transportation
The Cherry Valley Drive extension was deleted from the Master Plan or
Highways.
Redland Road, from Crabbs Branch Way to Needwood Road, right of way
minimum was reduced to 70 feet width and 4 travel lanes. Redland Road,
from Needwood Road to Muncaster Mill Road, right of way minimum reduced
to 70 feet width and 2 travel lanes.
|
